Going West
by Jinseino Lemon
Summary: "The West" a romanticized land of trains, dragon riders, behemoths and gun fights at high-noon, well at least in the North American server of Elder Tale that is. This is the story about one guild's struggle with flavor texts, guns, riots and a scouting quest for a transcontinental rail road that may become more than it bargained for. Welcome to the Land of Wen!
1. Prolouge

Prologue One: Secret Identity

"Hey, you going to play that game again?"

I turned back to my dorm mate Jean.

"Yeah, you got a problem with it?! It's not like you'll be here anyway. Probably be black out drunk and sleeping at your boyfriend's dorm for the third time this week" is what I didn't say.

Unfortunately, cool one-liners or stinging quips don't come easily to me as they do to RoboMan.

Instead I said something along the lines of "yeeeeah?" that sounded more like a question than a definite answer.

"Ugh, what a nerd. " she said as she put on her shoes. "You should really go out more, make some friends."

"If they're all like you, I'd rather pass." Is also what I didn't say.

I did think of it after she left and said it to the door, which did make myself feel a bit better, but at the time I just replied "yeeeeah…" again.

I need to work on my comebacks…

But that didn't matter! For today was the day Miko Sheets disappeared into her dorm and the Mighty Madcross remerged into Elder Tale, dealing swift metallic justice on her foes with her trusty golem Fluff-E.

I was ready.

I had my screen all polished, free from gunky fingerprints and weird blotches. I had my emergency supply of Diet Float soda next to me with the cans stacked near the edge of the table so I could flick them into the trash can with quick movements. I had placed my More-ito chips within arms reach, to be used during and ONLY during breaks (I didn't want to repeat the More-ito Crisis of 2016 again… We almost won that raid too…). My headphones were ready, my mouse happily clicking under my finger as I hit download, and I had completed my daily button exercises for my keyboard for maximum efficiency.

Words cannot describe the amount of "ready" I was at that very moment.

And the download was complete.

I let out a dignified shriek of excitement.

And I hit play.

And then I was no longer in my dorm.

It was so real I could've sworn I was….

And then I felt the cool blades of grass touching my hands.

And the heat of the sun on my face (something which was "rare" to say the least.")

And I decided maybe I wasn't that ready.

And I lost my cool.

"OHMYGODIMINAGAMEWHATISTHISGUNSKILLONLINETHISCANTBEHAPPENINGIHAVEFINALSCOMINGUPWHATABOUTMYPARENTSDOPEOPLEDIEWHENTHEYAREKILLEDWHATISHAPPE…."

But it was ok.

"OH MY GOD!"

"YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!"

"THIS… THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!"

"GM! SOMEONE CALL A GM!"

"WHERE'S MY SON!? OH GOD, WHERE IS MY SON!?"

So did everyone else.

* * *

Hey, Jinseino Lemon here rewriting Going West.

If this is your second time reading this and your scratching your head going "Hey, where are the other prologues? There were three here, now there's just one. What a rip off", my only excuse is that two of them didn't match the way I wanted the story to go and I got rid of them... permanently *ominous music*

On the brightside, I have all my notes together now so I'm ready for the next chapter! I even have a fancy dandy drawing of the lander city of Laprote which is built between the Quebec and Pierre Laporte bridge. Yay! Drawings!

If you think drawings have nothing to do with readiness you are right... I just wanted to brag about my fancy drawing ;)

The rest below is the old message from the prologue.

Is it bad that I kept some of you waiting for this long and starting again only to rewrite everything?

Yes, absolutely.

But honestly, the characters felt a little flat, and slightly force to me so I decided to rewrite.

Guns will still be included. Mara said guns would have a high level cap but to me that sounds more like "Guns will have a high level cap if they function as modern day firearms". So as long as they're nerfed, it's cool. :P

Anyway thanks for reading as always, Ciao.


	2. Chapter 1: Strangers

_"It's high noon! …Damn, I've always wanted to say that! This is AWESOME!"_

_-An Unnamed member of Morning Star_

**Chapter One: Strangers**

* * *

The Freedom Eagle, the flying mount of North America. While many people use the normal way of summoning the massive bald eagles via whistle, Lord Grey was always a fan of the unorthodox way. Grip your fist, think of the star spangled flag, of apple pie, baseball and yelling 3 letters in the most obnoxious way possible, and let the cry of America fill you, "FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDOM!" Plus, it annoyed Grindalf to no end.

He had used his eagle in his journey to Dixie multiple times already but each time the rush of air against his face, the sight of the world, so small, below, filled him with a sense of unbridled freedom.

Lord Grey closed his eyes and laughed out loud.

_I could get used to this._

Sure at the beginning he had freaked out, who wouldn't? One moment he was alternating between editing a wiki page and waiting for the download to end and them boom. No more keyboard, mouse or screen. Just his two hands, the old crumbling building of Jean Drapeau and the cries of adventurer's around him. His mind raced into possibilities. Really high spec graphics? Probably not. Hallucination? Unlikely, unless you could have tangible hallucinations. A dream then? He fell asleep at the keyboard. No, things were way to focused for this to be a dream.

He remembered looking up at the sun. It had been a while since he'd been out in the outdoors. He worked as a programmer but mostly took freelance work, not leaving the confines of his house. It felt somewhat refreshing to feel the warm ray of the sun.

And then Grindalf had called.

And he'd been an errand boy since.

Lord Grey didn't mind it much. He knew Grindalf did it to keep the members of Manifest Destiny busy on something... anything to keep them from losing hope. And the traveling had done him some good. His new body, a half-alv summoner, was a bit shorter than he was in real life but after getting used to it he realized it was a lot more fit than he was. He wasn't fat in real life, but he wasn't exactly slim either, and had a bit of a beer belly. He definitely couldn't do half the walking, climbing and running he had done in the past month in his old body.

Lord Grey chuckled to himself.

_I probably couldn't have even made it down the stairs of the guildhall without losing my breath. _

"Are… We there yet?" A weak voice said from behind Lord Grey.

Lord Grey snapped himself back to the present, reminding himself he wasn't alone.

"We'll be touching down soon." He said to the small, cloaked figure grabbing tightly to his robes. He grinned mischievously and added, "Why don't you take a look? We're still really high up. If we fell from this height we might ev-"

"IM NOT LISTENING! IM NOT LISTENING!" The voice cried out in horror.

The eagle descended in a slow corkscrew, gently touching its talons down on the ground and steadying itself with a quick hop.

Lord Grey slid off the side of the eagle and helped the cloaked child off the massive bird. After tossing the eagle a piece of boar meat, he patted the bird's beak once before it flew off back towards the mountains.

_Now let's see if the young master hasn't soiled himself shall we?_

"Was the flight satisfactory your grace?" Lord Grey said with a mock bow to the cloaked child.

"Don't call me that," the silver haired child snapped throwing off his hood. "There is no nobility in the TTR. And to answer your question," he added brushing himself off "no, it was not 'satisfactory' as usual but in these times speed is more important than comfort. I hope you're iron chariots have better accommodations."

Lord Grey sighed. As soon as the kid jumped off the eagle he went from scared child to annoying noble.

_What an uncute kid._

"Regardless," Balt Shylock said, "Time is of the essence. My elder brother, while talented has an infuriatingly short attention span. If we are to win him over we must approach him while his interest is ripe and… What are you doing!"

Balt slapped Lord Grey's hand away from patting him on the head.

"Sorry, I just felt, 'Wow, he's working hard. What a good kid.' And my hand moved instinctively."

"I am not a child! I am 12 year of age, nearly a man!" Balt replied stomping his feet on the ground.

"Yes, yes," said Lord Grey "I see."

"You are not taking me seriously," Balt said glaring at him. "Is this how you adventurer's treat your business partners?"

"I wouldn't know," Lord Grey said, "I leave the business to Grindalf."

It was true. Lord Grey didn't like talking to nobles. They were too stuffy, couldn't take a joke, and self entitled. Honestly after a few minutes of talking to them he had the urge to punch them in the face. Guildleaders weren't much better either. They just cared about their guild, and were loyal to a fault to the dogma might makes right.

He almost admired Grindalf's methods of honeyed words, fear-mongering and blackmail.

The man had it down to an art.

Balt looked at Lord Grey unimpressed.

"Ah, that's right, I forgot you were a mere messenger, forgive me, I lost my temper at a commoner." Balt said smirking.

"Hm," said Lord Grey, "At this rate, I might have to make the eagle go faster on the way back." Lord Grey laughed as the color drained from Balt's face, "m'lord is sooo busy with works a commoner like myself can't understand, all I can do is speed up his arrival."

"Th- that won't be necessary." Balt stammered.

"No, no, m'lord" Lord Grey said smiling sweetly "I insist."

Balt looked like he was about to cry.

_I take it back, the kid's adorable. _

"Aw, come on m'lord, cheer up, we're almost here." laughed Lord Grey.

Before them was the walled city of Dixie, what would be Austin in real life.

Unlike the scrap-metal walls of Jean Drapeau the walls of Dixie were made of smooth sandstone and Lord Grey could see the adventurer's pacing the top of the ramparts high above them.

_Must be nice to be able to walk around without the risk of getting tetanus. _

Near the gate stood a slender man, in a battered top hat and ragged duster shuffling a deck of cards. What part of his face the shadow from the brim of his top hat didn't hide was covered by a black unkempt scruff of a beard that curled around in knots. Lord Grey felt the man's eyes on him from under the brim of his hat as they approached.

Lord Grey moved around between Balt and the man. A precaution to make it easier to defend him if anything happened.

As Lord Grey attempted to cross into the city a long boney arm rose to block him.

_Oh, boy, here we go._

Lord Grey turned to the raggedy man smiling cheerfully, but glaring a warning with his eyes.

"Can I help you, sir?" he asked.

The raggedy man stood still for a second, continuing to shuffle his cards, then returned them to the folds of his duster.

Lord Grey cracked his finger's expectantly.

The raggedy man opened his mouth.

"Halt stranger," came an uncharacteristically high-pitched voice from the man "what you doing around these parts?"

_He... she...?_

Lord Grey almost burst out laughing.

"These parts?" He snorted.

"Don't…" the raggedy man replied in a slightly higher-pitch.

Lord Grey fell to the ground laughing.

"Laugh…" the raggedy man ended, disappointed.

" 'Halt stranger' Hahaha… 'these parts' … and your voice… Hahaha"

"Stop laughing… I... I get it 'Harharhar, look at the girl trapped in the hairy guy body', very funny." The raggedy man crossed crossed her(?) arms, annoyed.

"Sorry, I couldn't help myself," said Lord Grey, genuinely apologetic, "it's just… Hahaha" he relapsed back into a laughing fit.

"The way… haha… You… hahaha… said 'around these parts'… I was half expecting John Wayne… Ha… but I got Kim Darby… Hahah…"

The raggedy man tapped her foot waiting for Lord Grey to compose himself.

"You done?"

"Almost." Lord Grey said wiping a tear from his eyes.

"Good," said the raggedy man, "Now let's start from the beginning. Who are you and what do you want here?" She tried to sound menacing dropping her voice down an octave but the tension was already lost.

"I'm Lord Grey," Lord Grey replied, "Though my friends just call me Grey, or anyone who doesn't want to address me as 'Lord', which is surprisingly a lot of people."

The raggedy man rolled her eyes, "I can imagine."

"As to what I want here," Lord Grey continued, "I want good food, a cute girl by my side and a mansion with maids at my beck and call, but unfortunately, what I'm here for is to talk to the guildmaster of Morning Star."

The raggedy man raised an eyebrow, "And him?" she said pointing at the hooded figure behind Lord Grey.

"I am not a 'him'," Balt said slowly, shocked at the female voice coming from a male, "I am Master Balt of House Shylock. I come to seek audience with my brother."

The raggedy man smirked, "Got a lot of hearty titles coming in don't we? Don't expect anyone here to lick you're boot cause of your upbringing kid. Here, it's what good you can do for the people that matters not a bunch of fancy names some old men wrote up in dusty halls years ago."

_Uh oh._

Lord Grey was half expecting Balt to shout in outrage, but what happened was different.

"I understand," Balt said meekly. "I come from a country where families rise and fall based on how quick they can make money and business deals. I know I must prove myself before I get any support." Balt looked up at the raggedy man with a cool fire burning in his eyes. "However, I am a man of profit and enterprise si… madam. And I know that if my family's and you adventurers work together, we can help benefit everyone, to make the nations of Wen stronger to combat any monster menace that opposes us. And I will do anything in my ability to see this happen."

The raggedy man reached out towards Balt, and the boy flinched for a second... until the hand rested on his head and gave him a pat on the head.

"Are you mocking me?!" Balt yelled with tears on the corners of his eyes.

"Wha-" the raggedy man said and withdrew his hand. "Sorry, I just felt, 'What a good natured kid.' And my hand subconsciously..."

"I know right?" said Lord Grey laughing.

The raggedy man sighed. "Alright follow me then," she said, signaling them to come through the gate.

"Zed," she called up to an adventurer on the rampart.

"Yeah, boss?"

"Take guard duty," she said.

"I'm taking these two to the Marshal."

* * *

Hey, Jinseino Lemon here with the new chapter!  
Yay! Confetti! Applause! Slight booing that I'll pretend I don't hear!

To give credit where credit is due, I want to make a shout out to DQueenie13 and her awesome Log Horizon Fun Facts blog that I shamelessly rip information from. The Freedom Eagles was DQueenie's head cannon and the idea of people yelling FREEDOM in front of slightly annoyed Canadians converted me to this head cannon as well.

So new characters!

In my previous version of the story Lord Grey was just a dingy side character but I want to bring him back to the front just cause a necromancer seems like such a cool class. He sorta ended up becoming more like Cannibal in the old version. Meh.

Cannibal is still going to be a character but as you can tell from the prologue he may not be as happy go lucky. I will try to keep the emo levels down as far as I can.

Going to focus on Dixie a bit and the situations there before moving back to Montreal (Jean Drapeau ) with Madcross, Grindalf and the start of the railroad.

I will do my hardest to make sure Grindalf doesn't become a poor mans Shiroe (Which is what I feel might be happening DX)

Did some "research" (cough cough wikipedia) on Montreal and definitely want to include something about the Underground City. Maybe make it a raid zone or something? I don't know yet. :P

Thanks for reading as always!


	3. Chapter 2 ArchEnemy

_"Your reign of terror ends here! You will face justice or-"_

_"Keelhaul!"_

_"Hey! That's cheating! I wasn't don-"_

_"I'm a villain aren't I?"_

_\- Voice snippet from the 2017 PvP Arena _

Chapter 2 - Arch Enemy

* * *

_3 months ago_

_Jean Drapeau (Montreal)_

Calm down calm down… Phew… Deep breaths…

I felt my heart, that was about to explode out of my chest cavity, slow down to a manageable tempo.

As adventurers screamed and ran around in circles in front of me, I looked around the broken moss infested buildings of Jean Drapeau, Elder Tales version of Post Apocalyptic Montreal, looking for something, anything that could tell me what was going on.

It was Elder Tale that was certain.

My character Madcross had run down it's streets many times, and everything was the same way it had been in the game, except of course more real than ever.

It's not that bad, at least I know where I am.

Let's think through this logically.

Am I dreaming?

No. I usually know if I'm dreaming. No need to pull the generic pinch-my-cheek-ow-it-hurts gag.

Hallucination?

No. Jean wouldn't spike my soda reserves. That was too evil, even for her standards.

Intense graphics?

No. I don't remember putting on a VR headset.

Alright, so I might have been teleported to the world of Elder Tales.

Think of a similar scenario.

The Matrix? No, no something brighter, more manageable... Battle Royal? Damn it brain! I said brighter! That anime with where they all get trapped in a game and… some of them die in real life.

I fall to my hands, my palms tingling from the heat of the patch of sun bleached asphalt below me.

I suck at reassuring myself.

It would be nice if I got an explanation or something about why we're here. A big hooded figure saying, "I AM THE ONE WHO BROUGHT YOU HERE! HERE IS WHAT YOU DO TO LEAVE! MWAHAHAHA!" would've been a bit better. At least I'd know there's a way out no matter how difficult it would be, and I'd know why we were here. If a goddess appeared before me and said, "You choked on a More-ito chip while you were playing and died. But don't worry, because you've lived such a boring life, I'll reincarnate you into your favorite game," I'd be annoyed at her bitchy attitude but still, I'd be happy that I got at least a bit of closure.

But here I was, in a fantasy world, no idea how I got here and no idea what happened to what I left behind.

I guess Jean would have to pay for the dorm by herself from now on.

I should've written a will… I bet she'd throw out all my stuff…

Slowly, I get back up.

First things first, the best thing to do in a situation like this is to separate yourself from strangers and find a safe place to think over your situation. I think I read it in a comic before… Or was it a "Zombie Survival 101" web forum? Either way it seemed like a smart move.

I start walking down a side street following the narrow stone path toward the guildhouse of my guild. While the alley was really sketchy, avoiding people and trying to stay inconspicuous, was a priority, which would be difficult to do walking down the main street in a skintight dark blue flight suit with and a glowing visor over my eyes

I looked like a better color coordinated but way less stealthy batgirl.

Curse you past self! What made you think this was a good idea!

The outfit was called Golem BioSuit and Sync Visor respectively and was popular with golem users for giving a more sci-fi vibe to the fantasy game of Elder Tale. The suit gave boosts to my golem summons and the visor increased my hit rate so I didn't mind much about it being a bit risqué in appearance. Actually, I kind of enjoyed it as it added to RP value. Cool robotic beauty with platinum blond hair, fighting PKs in PvP, it made me feel like Elder Tale's Robocop.

But when I was actually in the suit, walking down the alleys, it was incredibly embarrassing. I felt I would die if someone looked at me for too long, explode in a cloud of shame and self-loathing. I'd cosplay at conventions sure but this... this was a bit too revealing for my taste. And I never was one for self-confidence.

Thankfully, I wasn't alone, and I could see from the side streets that there were people dressed in waaaay worse outfits than me struggling to hide themselves. One was in the middle of the street wearing skimpy bikini armor surrounded by a crowd of spectators.

I felt sorry for her until "she" said,

"Hey, you asshats. Get moving! I'm a guy! What are you gay?!" in the voice of a raging middle age man.

Serves him right.

Give me back my sympathy.

But watching him struggling to get a menu open gave me an idea.

I reach out my hand into the air.

"Menu!" I cried in a confident voice.

Nothing…

And now I feel like an idiot.

"Menu up!"

Still nothing.

"Menu please? Menu dero? Heed my call menu? Go go menu…"

I go through a few calls to no avail.

Maybe the menu feature is broken?

"Try just thinking of the menu appearing," a voice said from behind me.

I quickly spin toward the voice. Arms raised in defense... like the fists of a summoner will do any damage...

"At least that's how it worked for me," said the girl in a bright red pirate coat.

I immediately felt my stomach drop.

It was her, from her smug face, wearing sunglasses with the words I PEWNED U written on the lenses, to her blood splattered flip-flops. She was Assisted Suicide, leader of KillaMeters an infamous PK guild.

"You-" I managed before she glomped me.

"Aww! Mad! How you been! Oh my God this is so cool isn't it?! We're in Elder Tale!"

"G…. Get off of me cr… criminal!" I yelled trying to keep to the RP of my in-game character as much as possible. "You will pay for your crimes against-"

"Criminal?" she interrupted. "Come on Mad! Just cause I lead a PK guild (and beat your face in in the last PvP Arena) doesn't mean we can't be friends right?"

What was that about beating my-!?

"Besides!" she said shaking me back and forth, breaking my train of thought, "I haven't pewned any newbs yet." She let go of me and I fell to the ground, my head still spinning. "Scouts honor." She said solemnly putting her hand over her heart.

Ugh… I feel like throwing up…

"Err… miss?" the large armored figure behind her said. His armor covered him from head to toe and spikes protruded from it at odd angles, his helmet looked like the medieval version of a welder's mask, and on his sides dangled two large notched cleavers that radiated a faint read aura. He seemed almost as if he wandered straight off the set of some horror movie or Mad Max or something.

"Aren't we going to be late for-"

"Oh! Get this, Mad!" Assisted Suicide said grabbing me and hoisting me up on my feet.

Oh, God not again.

"Ripper Joe here, " she said rapping her knuckles against his armor, "you know how he was so quiet over voice chat? I thought he was just RPing you know, like you do? But get this, he's actually-"

"MISS!" Ripper Joe interrupted putting his hand on Assisted Suicide's shoulder.

"A middle-schooler!" finished Assisted Suicide excited.

"MISS!" Ripper Joe said again almost tearfully.

"You should be proud of that Joe!" Assisted Suicide said poking his helmet with her finger, "Not many middle schoolers have the smarts and determination to reach max level in ET."

Ripper Joe's shoulders sagged a bit and for a second, I felt a great deal of pity for him. But there were more important matters at stake.

I pushed Assisted Suicides hand away and focused on making the menu appear.

Imagine the frame…

The hp and mp bars…

The summoner icon that pop… oh cool it's up.

The status screen popped up first.

* * *

Madcross

Race / Race of Ritual

Summoner Lv. 90

HP 7045

MP 11218

Guild

Manifest Destiny

* * *

Followed by the main menu with Skills, Equipment, Quests and…

"Don't bother logging out." Assisted Suicide said as I reached my finger out at the floating screen, "it won't work, we've already tried."

Of course.

I should've guessed. I mean, that's how all these scenarios go isn't it? Trapped in a game, no escape. Can't make the plot too easy… I guess we all have to work together to defeat some massive threat…

I steal a glance at Assisted Suicide.

She was trying to "cheer up" Ripper Joe. Though I was pretty sure he was crying now under his armor.

What a pain…

Sighing I went to equipment and put on something a little more decent. A navy colored robe with white runes etched into the fabric tied at my neck with a red scarf that billowed in the air even when the wind wasn't blowing, Balthorm's Cloak of Secrets, and a plain bomber jacket and short pants to wear over the Golem BioSuit.

I usually didn't wear the cloak. I didn't need the buffs to phantasmal creatures it gave, as I never used them anyway. Plus it was a bit too flashy but it would have to do for now.

Assisted Suicide whistled.

"Silence." I said keeping up my character.

"I didn't say anything." Assisted Suicide said in a singsong voice, smiling as she poked my scarf that was floating in the air.

I hate her soooo much.

Riiiing riiiiing.

"Call: Grinsalf" flickered in from of me.

Grindalf.

My Guild Master, who maintains the Elder Tale Wiki along with his own blog and holds panels at Pax East about the game.

The man who destroyed a nasty guild by scamming them out of all their money by making a secondary character in their guild, rising to Vice Guild Leader and transferring out all it's funds to the people they hurt.

The man who reached the top 10 of the group PvP Brawl four years in a row.

A wave of emotions overtook me.

Maybe things would be all right.

There's a way out.

At least someone I'm friendly with is here.

I clicked accept.

And tried to sound composed but it came out something like,

"GrindalfOhthankGodIseveryonefineHowmanypeoplearehereWhereareyouguysAnyideawhy-" I asked all the questions I had in quick succession, just relieved someone could answer them, even if it was just with "I don't know."

_"First,"_ came Grindlaf's voice echoing through my head, "_You don't need to speak out the words, just think them and they'll reach me. Wouldn't want you to look like you're talking to yourself, I know how sensitive you are about keeping up that stoic type RP you're fond of."_ I heard a smirk on the other end and Assisted Suicide was laughing at me.

Too late.

_"Second,"_ Grindalf said,_ "I need to apologize for not messaging you sooner. I decided that we needed to prioritize contact with the members outside __Jean Drapeau first to navigate them to safehouses and gather information. Though we did know you were approaching the guildhouse and kept track of you from the friendslist."_

_"Understood."_ I thought back to him struggling to get back into character after my last outburst.

_"I'm glad you seem ok." _Grindalf sighed_. "We were worried when you stopped moving for a while."_

_"If you see anyone you recognize alone,"_ he added "_reach out to them. We have more than enough space at the guildhouse and honestly, we need more people to work out what's happening."_

_"Third,"_ he said_ "Sergeant Senior, Lord Grey and I probably won't be at the guildhouse when you arrive. We're rendezvousing with KillaMeters and BNI at the guildhall."_

_"KillaMeters?"_ I asked, looking at Assisted Suicide in front of me.

She waved.

_"I know you don't like Sue"_, Grindalf said reassuringly, "_but she's not all that bad if you're in a non-combat zone. The guards still seem to be functioning so this might be a good opportunity to collaborate."_

_"Is she on your friends list?" _I though to him.

Grindalf paused for a bit "_Oh",_ he said finally, "_So that's what's stopped you. Alright then just follow her, you'll be the third representative at the hall and I'll just tell Lord Grey to stay back at HQ and organize things"._

_"Will he be ok with that?"_ I asked.

Lord Grey never really liked work and always complained when more was thrown his way. While his second name was "The Vault Keeper" some of us in the guild, took to calling him "Lazy Bones".

Grindalf laughed "_He literally begged me not to leave you behind cause he was afraid you'd declare war on another guild "for justice" or something."_

_"Hey!"_ I forcefully thought/yelled at him.

_"Anyway"_ Grindalf said "_I'll meet you at the hall."_

"So?" asked Assisted Suicide expectantly after the call ended.

"I don't know what you are planning." I said in my most menacing voice, "But know this, I Madcross will keep my eye on-"

I didn't get much farther because once again, Assisted Suicide had me caught in her glomp of death, her I PEWNED U sunglasses biting into my cheek.

"YES! We have so much to talk about! Like that time at the raid two years ago! What happened to your golem? It stopped moving for a few seconds and we lost! I've always won-"

"It was nothing!" I yelled in a slightly higher octave than I wanted.

"I- I mean… The state of my golem does not concern you. Our bond is one you will never unde-"

"Grindalf told me you spilled More-ito chips ove-"

"He's lying! That man is a pathological liar!" I yelled.

THAT RAT! WHY DID I EXPECT ANYTHING GOOD WOULD COME FROM-

I suddenly realized I was breathing heavily and Assisted Suicide and Ripper Joe were looking at me worried.

Assisted Suicide stopped glomping me and put her hand on my shoulder reassuringly.

"It's ok Mad," she said sweetly, "we all make mistakes sometimes, even when it comes to doing a simple job like protecting your backline en-"

The color rose in my cheeks.

"NUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

My screams of embarrassment rose into the blue cloudless sky of Wen as we made our way to the Guildhall.

* * *

Hey! Jinseino here with the new chapter.

Yes we're back to prologue mecha girl again!

We'll be jumping from the starting months of the Apocalypse to the Railroad from chapter to chapter because I have a plan in mind! (I swear it's not because I thought it would be cool to add somethings to the start that would be difficult to explain with flashbacks... really... *fingers crossed*)

Also cut the prologue a bit short because honestly, the first second prologue is better as a flash back and the 3rd just felt like a short and boring rip off of the round table :(

Thanks for reading as always!


End file.
